It was a heartbreaking day for the Penn State men's basketball team on the court as they finished their season with a 1-point loss against Illinois on a lay-up with :04 left. But the Lions got a very welcome consolation prize off the court as what could be an important recruit made a verbal commitment to PSU with the intent of inking his letter of intent during the upcoming spring signing window.

Chris Babb, a 6-5 shooting guard from Arlington, Texas, with deep range told PSU assistant Hilliary Scott by phone just a few minutes ago that he will be joining the Nittany Lions for the 2008-09 season, according to Babb's father Mike. Babb chose PSU over his other finalist Iowa. Texas Christian and North Texas also offered. Vanderbilt, Iowa State and others were involved but wanted to wait until nearer the signing period before offering a grant.

Babb was not interested in waiting and pared his finalist list to Penn State and Iowa last week. He chose PSU this afternoon after taking mid-term exams at The Oakridge School in Arlington. He averaged 31.3 points this season and had games of 51 and 49.

It was a particularly important commitment for PSU which had no pure shooting guards in the pipeline for after Danny Morrissey departs in 2009. Babb, who has also played both point and small forward at Oakridge, is considered more of a wing bomber and will be aimed at the 2 spot. Spring, length and shooting range are considered his strengths; ballhandling is considered a target for improvement.

Mike Babb said his son did not decide until today and that picking between Iowa and PSU was a very tight choice for him: "He said, 'Dad, I prayed about it and my gut says this is what I need to do.' That was his determining factor."

Babb's parents are natives of Topeka, Kans., and the family lived there until four years ago when his mother took a job in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and they moved south. Chris spent his freshman year at a city school in Arlington before transferring to the private Oakridge. The school plays in a separate private-school division in Texas and a league that spans across Texas and Oklahoma.

Much of Babb's more intense competition came with the AAU Team Texas in summer ball; that team spawned two other high-major recruits - Rotnei Clarke (to Arkansas) and Willie Warren, a McDonald's All-American (to Oklahoma).

Said Mike Babb: "Even though he was the third option on that team, that's where a lot of the coaches really began noticing him."

Mike Babb said his son didn't watch either of his finalist schools play today. Each team's season ended in back-to-back first-round games at the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. Iowa dropped an ugly 55-47 loss to Michigan: "It was a good time for him not to watch," said Mr. Babb, stressing that the decision should not be made based on one day of basketball but by larger factors and a broad scope.

Babb spent much of his recruiting visit with freshmen Talor Battle and Jeff Brooks, both of whom played courageous games in the Lions' 1-point loss today. Mr. Babb said his son spoke with Battle on the phone to let him know he was coming to PSU.

Penn State has one grant left for the current recruiting class which could number five players. A big man will probably be the target of PSU's final grant.

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